Guest Post: House Rules – And Another Team Goes And There Were No Tears

by Reality Raver

Another team has been eliminated and Annajjj tells us how it went down:

It’s reveal night on the 24 hour renovation fix up. There are just under four hours to go when we join the teams and they are all working hard. Ryan’s wallpapering is finished and as usual he’s pretty bloody impressed with himself. He and Candy then head off shopping so Ryan can choose their living room rug. It’s pretty loud.

Team Bomb are apparently keeping things simple which loosely translates to ‘we haven’t done much’. Moved the dining table into Kaitlin’s room, bought a new one, new tiles and some shelving. That’s about it really. They do take the glass table top to be resized and are asked if it is ‘toughened glass’. Bomber doesn’t know but viewers do. It has been ‘toughened’ and we get an ad break but no glass break. Luckily the glass cutter guy can sell them an off-cut. Bet it’s not toughened though and shouldn’t it be?

Lisa and Adam head out for some last minute shopping, get stuck in traffic and dearie dearie me says Adz. Really? Fuckity fuck fuck would be my reaction. BTW McFlurry is noticeably absent tonight. She’s usually around at about this point to tell one unlucky team the various ways they’ve stuffed up.

Maddi and Lloyd head out to buy more plants; their idea seems to be to cover as much of the deck as possible in foliage and maybe the judges won’t notice the bug infused paint. The Cappers are having little fights but no one takes any notice anymore.

Time is up! Everyone is tired but relieved. They head back to HomeBase where some of them arrive in slo-mo. Jo is channeling Farrah Fawcett circa 1970 but it’s better than the Margaret Thatcher-do she had last time. Everyone is nervous. “If I go home just when the Candy’s there I’ll be gutted” says Gapper. Candy looks freaked out.

Judges arrive first in Melbourne at Adam and Lisa’s house. Negative Joe doesn’t like the laundry; ‘it’s so so’ he declares and Wendy wonders if it’s a big enough change. FFS are you kidding? It was totally awful before. Joe thinks the hallway is drab and the guest room is not a show stopper. Wendy thinks they’ve chosen the wrong zone. Hang on shouldn’t they choose the one they like least rather than the one you like least?

Next up it’s Ryan’s house and Ryan’s big entry print meets with judges approval. Into Ryan’s study and Wendy’s face falls dramatically. (Wonder if she’s practiced this expression in the mirror.) It’s disappointing to both judges as not much has changed. Off into Ryan’s brightly coloured living room and Wendy thinks it is cohesive. I think it is seizure inducing. Joe can’t get around in that assortment of pants and then cast judgement on others people’s colour choices, so he is forced to love it.

Not much is said about the Capper’s makeover. Both judges like the bedroom but notice the shabby paint job on the laundry doors. How hard would it have been to just replace these?

The judges arrive in Townsville and the less said about Joe’s pants the better. Both Joe and Wendy like the bedroom but let’s face it, anything bar possum poo flung on the walls would have been an improvement. Onto the deck and they like it and the dog rug isn’t even mentioned.

Finally over to Team Bomb to see their junkshopchic which consists of New glass top, New tiles, New dining table and upcycled (Drink!) shelves. Judges are impressed with the last bit as it’s very junkshopchic and why does everyone say this like it’s one word? Or even a real thing? The engine desk and assorted chairs look ridiculously out of place in Kaitlin’s room.

Wendy and Joe arrive at HomeBase. It’s Judgement Time.

Cappers: 7 & 7 and Carole is bitterly disappointed.
Ryan and Ryan’s girlfriend: 7 & 8
Maddi and Lloyd: 7 & 8
Lisadz: 6 & 6
Team Bomb: 5 & 5 & going (staying??) hoooome! Except not straight away as we have to wait for Jo to add it all up then add it to the existing scores then reveal the total scores then Team Bomb are going hoooome! Bye gice, not very sorry to see you go although Mel was good value in the beginning. But if the stories about your house are true then you don’t deserve to win anyway.

The leaderboard is wiped clean again and next up is the gardens and exteriors. At the end of this one team is going home and shouldn’t that be two teams? Otherwise we will have three teams in the finals. Unless there are more surprises in store?

I love these recaps. Even though I tune into the show every night, I spend the entire time glued to my Twitter feed and iMessages. Have NFI what’s actually happening, only glancing up when I hear Adam’s beautiful manly voice. These recaps fill in all the blanks haha.
Twitter @sewmelove and @iisneeno

Thanks, Annajjj for another great re-cap. I just snorted from laughter a couple of times, and pretty embarrassing in the packed bus.

Mel &Bomber is out. Woohoo! I noticed they didn’t really hug each other when time is up at the end of Reno. I think their time is up too. Probably there weren’t any tears because they had enough of being with each other for 24×7. I am sure Bomber will be selling the ‘Real Story of House Rules’ to Womens Days or No Idea as soon as the show finishes. He is out of the work again and nothing to do, so he has to cash in as much as he can from this show.

By the way, am I the only one who is annoyed with ANZ advert? (I am in Brisbane and assuming the as is nation wide). I am sick of watching Simon whatever the Mentalist guy does Origami with the total stranger’s paper, and recommend the ugly sofa. Sorry, that’s probably just me. But I think i had enough of all the same ads.

That toughened or no? glass balanced on the engine didn’t look especially safe. If they fix it in place though it can go in the boy’s bedroom to replace the tiny manga desk.
I think B&M are good together, she’s bossy, he needs to be bossed. Time will tell if it was a relationship of reality tv convenience.

Ryan is just bossy.

The judges would be told what the contestants stuffed up eg the removed glass from Ryandy’s artwork. Why would anyone even notice otherwise?

Yeah they have gone. I am not into the conspiracy theory of B&M wrecking the house. It is not unusual to borrow more than property value to do a reno. The realestate ad did say it was a fixer upper or knock down. I have seen enough reno shows that show the damage done by termites and the wood with live insects would have been removed. It would have gone into the calculations of the loan. No big deal. Still didn’t like them.

R&C’s lounge gave me nausea and add judges clothing….mmmm. There is no way I could relax in that room. Kitchen seems slightly different…can’t put my finger on it.

I liked Lisa’s bedroom. That pop of aqua was lovely. I don’t understand why the judges were so hard on them picking that zone.

I was surprised how looong Carol spent with those damn crystals! Couldn’t she get the right one from the shop, seemed pretty lame of them to just give her the loose ones to do herself…

I was quietly laughing as M&B took their ‘don’t know if it’s toughened’ glass to be cut and then when it didn’t it was a little satisfying, and yes I doubt the new off cut they got is toughened, I wonder if they realise that it needs to be and will just do it later?

Felt sorry for Adam and Lisa, their zone looked nice and while other zones would have offered more impact there were serious time constraints and budget to take into consideration!! They never would have had time or money to fix their bedroom/ensuite debacle.

I agree Shellbot. L&A really had to go with that zone as there seemed some serious building work to do to change the bathroom views. It won’t be a hard job for Adam without time constraints to worry about. Given where A&L live, they took the longest way possible to get to the shopping centre. I suspect there was a bit of dramatic editing going on there.

The right couple went home so the other scores are now irrelevant but I really don’t get it. They should have strict scoring guidelines based on effort and relevance. Why would you want a house that has features in every single room, some rooms have to be boring. Most peoples spare rooms have crap everywhere, Adam and Lisa have a beautiful spare room.

I wonder if Maddi and Lloyd considered painting the old wall paper or just wall papering over it. Seems you can paint tiles so why not.

I liked the bit how it was hammered home the entire episode that B&M were “4 points behind [next lowest person]” – leaving them with a completely impossible task of hoping said team somehow fell asleep for 24hours, so they could make up their score, then get another 4 in front…
it was a very nervous wait as Jo informed us “so I’ve done the maths on today’s scores – BUT WAIT AND SEE HOW THAT AFFECTS THE OVERALL LEADERBOARD, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN!!!”
i was *shocked* to see the team which scored the lowest in this 24hr task…
was still on the bottom of the overall leaderboard…Thrilling television!

Can’t believe the judges favoured Ryandy again. Obviously the more the colours clash, the higher the score. The lounge room was worse than it was before.
I reckon this challenge would have been emotionally demoralising. First, when the home owner chooses the zone you did in their house and talks about how much they hate it. And then secondly, after you have fixed a zone in your own home the way you want it, the judges come in and criticise that. Much more personal than what you have done in someone else’s home.

The faux suspense is so mindbogglingly tedious.
Champagne comedy via recap AGAIN, Annajjj. Loving these:
“Jo is channeling Farrah Fawcett circa 1970 but it’s better than the Margaret Thatcher-do she had last time.”
“The judges arrive in Townsville and the less said about Joe’s pants the better.”
“Joe can’t get around in that assortment of pants and then cast judgement on others people’s colour choices, so he is forced to love it.”

Conspiracy Theory #857 re Bomber & Mel – they got the boot as there is no way on earth that any teams on this show could renovate that festering pile of junk that is their backyard. Honestly, there were a couple of shot of Bomber in the backyard and the piled high garbage there was astonishing. Bomber, next to be seen on an episode of “Hoarders”.

Not in the least bit sorry to see B&M go – he annoyed me from the first, and she totally lost me with her super bitchy comments at their reveal.

Yay team Bomb are gone! I found them odd from day one and I don’t have to listen to Mel speak continuously in a monotone voice for two minutes about ‘junkshopchic’ when they don’t have any idea what the heck it is.

Also, what the junk.. literally.. was with B&M just filling Kaitlin’s room with chairs?! I think they knew their time was up in the comp, wanted to be able to keep the table and chairs, knew that to be able to do so they had to be re purposed within the same zone, so just chucked ’em on in! Good work!

I thought A&L were a little hardly done by. The bedroom was a little too bland for my taste and I hated those tiles behind the bed (better than the wallpaper though) but it was a nice improvement. The laundry.. well what else could they have done, Wendy?! They did what was needed and now it looks nice. Realistically what other zone could they have done.. Nothing. This was the zone they didn’t like and could do in 24 hours. To do the dining room would also mean doing the bathroom and that wouldn’t have been possible. Although unlike everyone else, I like the tiles but the weird toilet cubicle needs to go. Doubt there would have been much they could do in the master bed/ensuite either, and the judges kind of liked these spaces.

Ryan and Candy’s space was too much for me.. it was an explosion of colour and M&L did a nice job even though the WIR was still a mess.

I feel as though, to keep the tension, the judges go through favourites. I think the Gappers cop it a lot as they have been consistently good minus a few bad choices. A&L then got on a roll so they need to drag them down a bit to make the competition look more even and now Ryan and Candy are getting the good scores. I think Wendy said to them they have been consistently good across the comp.. ahh.. did she see some of their earlier work? They have improved. M&L have been stagnant.

The judges were really mean last night, and sounded very superior to everyone else. I could see the look on Lisa and Adam’s face as if they couldn’t believe it. They probably wanted to change those awful mismatched tiles but simply didn’t have the time so they chose another zone they didn’t like .
Candy and Ryan’s lounge room was an explosion of bright colours, didn’t like it at all, and how did the judges know that art work looked better without the glass? I thought they didn’t know about all the dramas leading up to the makeovers?
Mel and Bomber seemed to be just going through the motions, what they did was half hearted. That table is revolting, it should be thrown back in his junk pile. Like LB said, we will see Bomber again in “Hoarders” lol!

all happening, I was just going by what they did last year, not because wikipedia is always a reliable source. Sorry, I must have missed the one team being eliminated as I fast forward through most of those bits. I will not speculate again.

Thanks for the info, Twinkle. I have never heard anyone else on TV speak like her before so it is new to me. I think I would fall asleep listening to her speak. The main thing for me, is that she doesn’t seem to take breaks. If that makes sense? All her words become like one big long sentence that never ends.

Hehe, Andrea.. I am sure the ‘little birdies’ aka producers fill the judges in on all the mishaps and dramas they have had. It’s like on The Block when they focus in on the things the contestants have had ‘issues’ with during the week.

@ Eliza #15 – a secret room? What the..? (I didn’t watch the first season so I don’t know what’s coming). What does the secret room involve?

I can’t say I’m overly thrilled to see garden week. I just prefer the changes that go on inside a house.

I notice that Ryandy used a light blue deer head, the exact same one that Steve and Chantelle used on the block last season. The block judges gave Steve and Chantelle an earful over that deer head and said it was an absolute no-no in design to have animal heads anywhere in a room. The House Rules judges didn’t say a thing (at least in the edit) about it and applauded the room. I’ve like a lot of Candy and Ryan’s design choices but I’m not sure about all the colour in that room (I notice they didn’t show too many shots of that room either once finished).

TG, they did a secret room last year. I don’t want to get in trouble so they may do something different this year. The secret room was just a room that wasn’t part of the first reno. When you look at Carol and Russell’s house, I am pretty sure they have a little room underneath the house. This could be their secret room.

I agree about the deer head! I remembered that Steve and Chantelle got a big no-no from the judges for using one last season. I screamed “NOOO” at the TV when I saw R&C were going to use one in their room. The Block has a ‘higher level’ I guess of judging than HR. HR is more everyday design/styling whereas on The Block they are pushing for a more higher end finish and appeal. Basically, if they were on TB, the deer head would be cliche, tacky and lame. It’s that think when something becomes too mainstream it loses its appeal…

I have worked out some of the secret rooms so far this season. The 2-storey ones are a given that they are down stairs. A&L and C&R must have a room out back like last years winners. I can’t remember what was done to get rid of the third place couple last year. I was expecting 2 to go after the gardening too Eliza until they said about just 1.

The 3rd place couple went during the gardens last year, hence why I thought they would do the same this year until you mentioned them saying about one team going. This was why I went to the wiki page to see who was eliminated and when. They did the gardens in two rounds (2 teams on each garden) and one team went each round, leaving two teams left. They might add in another challenge like the apartment.. that was new this year I am pretty sure.

That’s ok, all happening. I think I am too easily offended at times, plus it is hard to understand tone through words. Wiki pages can be helpful in remembering when contestants were eliminated. I certainly didn’t use wiki pages for uni essays 😉

Yes Eliza, the apartment was a new inclusion that I wasn’t that impressed with. I see they are looking for apartments for next seasons filming.

I saw the ad for when the show is on and there is tonight and then 4 nights next week.Will Wed next week be Grand Final????? That works with your theory of 1 one night and another one the next night. They are not doing one on Wed this week because of State of Origin.

@ Eliza #21 thanks for the info. I realise that House Rules is supposed to be different designs and judging to the block – the block is all about million dollar homes. I feel frustrated because of the constraints on time I feel the rooms in House Rules aren’t quite as good as they could look (but I like that they are trying to do designs that are achievable for those without heaps of money – although since we don’t know the budgets or what things cost it’s a bit hard to know really)

Funny but Bomber and Mel don’t seem to have been interviewed anywhere. Not even on Sunrise. They must not have been happy about the show. B&G were tough enough to answer the questions and I think they were happy with the show.
Does anyone know if Bomber and Mel have been interviewed since their elimination? They were one strange couple.

I’m also in a daze about how this will be finally judged and won, but the teams would be doing the garden makeover by another team? I don’t know…Last night, Ryan’s lounge was horrible and could have worked better with the darker color that he wallpapered over and that horrible rug & head on the wall,blahhh yuck. Townsville’s bedroom seemed boring all round. Yeah that crap on the ceiling had to go but the white all round, no, I would have left that back wall of some color and kept the window fittings, and the wallpaper mix and match, errrr,nope. I thought all the way through this one that it would be smart to work on what the judges got their knickers n a knot for and judged low points on, strategy wise it would have been smarter ,even if the judging has been quite silly and far from what we like. I really hope next year they grab another two for this as these two very bland people drive me nutso!

I was reading a post from Caroline Mcwhatever and she was answering critics re the help given to B&G. She says all teams get the same amount of help, it is just not shown.
“REALITY (TV) CHECK………..
Very confronting to have people comment on me on this Houserules FB post……happy to say most are positive….thanks for all the support and good vibes! And yes, I do help the teams waaaaaay more than they have time to show (too much other good stuff), and it’s all done in a balanced and even way.”

TG, I know, I get frustrated too about the time limits. For the drama of it all? I think how much better it would look with a bit more time but don’t think CH7 care about that! haha.. In a long way, before I was trying to say that on TB they try and be more pretentious than this show. I learned how to be pretentious when I studied interior dec/des 😉

kes, my memory is really bad regarding last year, but they did split it into two rounds. Two gardens per round and two teams working on each garden – one on the front and one on the back. They must have just eliminated the two bottom performers but now this year it might just be one going by the promos. I guess we’ll find out!

LOL, Daisy.. yes, we sure are catch you later/tomorrow on WLCTT.. think we’re the only ones still watching.. Hope you still are! Can’t wait to find out who is back.. bets on JJ?!

You nailed it Eliza! yep one team up the back,one team out the front. I wish the women would look like they are actually doing something instead of being on the phone.Gardening is so soul soothing,well for me anyway and starting from scratch is hard,so extra hands and minds make a good team effort.

I don’t have a problem with editing … the network is spending squillions on production, I think this entitles them to cut & paste a factory product which will attract ratings … even at the expense of those taking part

Contestants should receive this printed on a complimentary t-shirt

I am really impressed how the couples have inter reacted .. admittedly more obvious since the recent departures of the tassie & south ozzie ambassadors

* so agree with you Kes … the judges have frustrated me so much .. so much inconsistency , their undertaker style is too much ..